Beverage cooler



Oct. 10, 1944. F. L. ROBISON BEVERAGE COOLER 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 20. 1943 N u u i a 10, 1944- F. ROBISON 2,360,074

BEVERAGE COOLER Patented Oct. 10, 1944 UNITED STATES f-PATE'NT OFFICE A BEVERAGE COOLER Floyd L. Robison, Fort south, Ark. Application December 20, 1943, Serial No. 514,963

(Cl-6H9) let valve 9. A return outlet pipe Ill running down 2 Claims.

This invention relates 'to improvements in coolers wherein continuous evaporator or cooling coils are arranged in a cabinet in which bottled beverages are adapted to be stored. The cabinet may be or the liquid or dry type and while adapted to refrigerate bottled beverages, may also be used for storing perishable food products, such as frozen foods, etc.

The primary object of my invention is to provide a unitary cooling coil arranged whereby the cabinet is provided with a plurality of equal sized open top compartments into which the products may be conveniently stored during the cooling operation,

A further object of the invention is to provide in the arrangement of the coils to form the multiple compartments, 9. continuous center line of refrigeration lengthwise of the cabinet to'insure a uniform cooling action throughout the entire cabinet. v v

A 'still further object of the invention is to secure in the cabinet 9. maximum of refrigerating surface in proportion to the area to be refrigerated.

Other and further objects of the invention will beapparent from a detail description thereof, wherein only a preferred form of embodiment of the invention is shown and described, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part hereof, in which:

Figure l is a top plan view of the cooler cabinet with my improved cooler unit mounted therein.

Figure 2 is a vertical section on the line 2--2 of Figure 1. The lower portion of the cabinet is shown in elevation with the mechanical refri crating system positioned therein shown in clot Figure 3 is a cross section of the upper portion of the cabinet on theiine 3-3 of Figure 1.

In the form of my invention illustrated, there is provided a standard insulated walled cabinet having an upper cooling section I, and a lower mechanical section 2. The cabinet is preferably rectangular in shape although the exact shape or size is not material. The upper cooling section I is provided with the usual sliding sectional the cabinet. This arrangement through the conduit 8 constitutes a connection to the suction side of the system. Most of these elements are conventionally shown in dotted lines and they constitute no part of my invention. Any suitable type of. refrigerating system might be employed and it could be arranged in any oilset relationship to theoooling cabinet.

The cooling unit for the cabinet comprises a continuous tubing for the refrigerant'that is bent to provide vertically spacedand parallel coils .II, l2, I3 and i4, arranged in their passage throughthe cabinet to form a plurality of equalsized open top compartments in pairs across the cabinet and extending the length of the same. The compartments are indicated as A and A, the compartments A being entirely enclosed by the coils and the compartments A being partially enclosed and depending on the wall of thecabinet to complete the same.

Each compartment forming coil through the cooling portion of the cabinet in parallel vertically spaced relationship to the others and for the sake of brevity I will only describe the top run in a horizontal plane of the top coil II of the continuous tubing through which the refrigerant flows. This is best shown in Figure 1. An inlet portion I5 extends from the temperature control valve 9 to the end wall of the cabinet at the upper right hand end of Fi ure 1. The coil extends across this end wall and then by a right angle bend I6 along the side wall of the cabinet. Another right angle bend at I1 returns the tubing to the center line of the cabinet where it is extended along said line by another right angle bend I8. When the tubing extends along said center line an equivalent distance to the distance between the bends I6 and I] or I1 and I8, it is given another right angle bend I9 and carried again to the outer wall of is continued throughout the length of the cabinet.

When the tubing or top coil II reaches the opposite end wall of the cooling cabinet, it is cover, not shown. The bottom thereof 3 provides a deck dividing the sections.

In the lower mechanical section 2 is mounted the usual compressor 4, driving motor 5, and receiver condenser unit 6'. The input or high pressureside of this evaporator system comprises an inlet pipe I, extending. through a vertical con-,

mm: 8, running from the section 2 of the cabinet 1 up through the cooling section I. The pipe I is connected with the usual temperature controlingiven a reverse right angle bend 20 and carried along said end wall to the opposite side wall of the cooling cabinet. By successive right angle bends 2|,22, 23 and 24, in'reverse direction to the bends I6, II, I8 and I9, the coil is returned to the first end of the cabinet. At that point instead of being bent in the .same plane, it is looped downwardly as shown-at 25 and then the arrangement described is duplicated in the next horizontalpplane to form the next coil I2. The coil I2 will terminate not on the center line but parallel with the end of the cabinet where a extends downward bend 26 carries it to the horizontal plane of the next coil I3. The terminal of the coil 13 will again be on the center line ofthe cabinet adjacent the end wall and by a downward bend 21 at that point is carried to the lowermost The arrangement just described will result in a plurality of open top equally sized compartments for the products to becooled in the cooling chamber. The compartments are arranged in cross pairs designated A and A'.- It will be noted that the straight sections of the coils form walls for the compartments, said walls entirely enclosing. the compartments A, but the compartments A utilize a portion of the cabinet wall to entirely define their rectangular shape. The walls of the compartments designated S divide the compartments A and A and are common to both. These walls S extend alongthe center line of the cabinet lengthwise as clearly shown in Figure 1. While the compartments A and A are arranged in spaced cross pairs lengthwise of the cabinet,

the entirely coil enclosed compartments and par- 'coils ii, 52, i3 and M is supported by an individual supporting web 29 formed of suitable material. As best shown in Figure 2, each web consists of a vertical portion formed at its bottom with an integral foot 30 adapted to be seated on the cabinet vbottorn. The web corresponds in height to the height of the coils in the cabinet and is formed with a series of transverse semicylindrical socket grooves 3| in which the respective portions of the coils H, l2, l3 and M of the tubing are secured by welding or other suitable means of attachment. The webs are sufiiciently wide to-support most of the length l of each straight section of the coils.

A domestic cool water supply coil 32 is disposed beneath the lowermost evaporator coil ill in vertical spaced relation to the same and supported in the same manner. The inlet 33 and outlet 34 of the water coil 32 as shown project above the cabinet and are appropriately connected to a water supply line and faucet not shown.

The evaporator coil arrangement shown provides the cooling cabinet with a maximum number of suitably sized compartments for cooling the bottled products stored therein. The term beverage is used in a generic sense and any' products to be cooled or refrigerated may be stored in the compartments. The coil arrangement noted, in addition to providing a maximum number of convenientvstorage compartments, has the advantage in the multiplicity of coils employed of obtaining a square inch of refrigerating surface for each square inch of the space to be refrigerated. Another important advantage thatincreases the efliciency of my cooler is the provision of a continuous center line of refrigeration throughout the length of the cabinet. The comwhich the coils are formed and assists in strengthening each individual product receiving compartment.

I claim:

l. The combination with an open top rectangular beverage cooling cabinet, of vertically spaced continuous tubing bent to form refrigerating coils for the cabinet and said coils arranged to provide a plurality of open top equal sized rectangular compartments, certain compartments being entirely enclosed by the coils and others utilizing a wall of the cabinet as an outside closure, and said entirely enclosed and partially enclosed compartments being staggered with respect to each other lengthwise of the cabinet.

.2. The combination with an open top rectangular beverage cooling cabinet, of vertically spaced continuous tubing bent to form refrigerating coils for the cabinet and said coils arranged to provide a plurality of open top equal sized rectangular compartments disposed in cross pairs along the length of the cabinet, and each pair of cross compartments having a, common inner coil wall which with the common coil walls of the other pairs of compartments forms a continuous center line of refrigeration throughout the length of the cabinet.

' morn L. nosrson. 

